All 7 Eleven's Fault
by Xandera-Orelia
Summary: Why is Dr. Horrible's lab coat red at the end of the movie? Why does he blame 7-Eleven? All those answers and more await you inside! Oneshot. Rated T for mild violence. Enjoy!


**A/N: Set during the end of the movie (Everything You Ever).**

* * *

All 7-Eleven's Fault

Billy sighed as he walked up to the Slurpee machine in the 7-Eleven a few blocks from his apartment. "No blue raspberry _again_? I hate fruit punch." He dejectedly reached for a paper cup and filled it with the cool red drink. As he paid for his beverage, Billy requested they get blue Slurpees sometime, but the cashier just shrugged him off.

_It's bad enough Penny just died, but people won't give me any respect unless I'm wearing my white suit and waving a gun around, _he thought. _Is it so difficult for a normal man around here to get a blue Slurpee so he can grieve in peace?_

Billy walked out calmly, but a plan was beginning to form in the back of his mind. _After all, no one tried to stop me when I robbed that bank yesterday…_

* * *

The next day, around noon

People panicked and rushed out of the 7-Eleven as soon as they saw Dr. Horrible and his Death Ray approaching. The lone employee pushed the silent alarm, but only news crews pulled into the parking lot. Upon reaching the doors, Dr. Horrible switched his Death Ray to his left hand and pulled another gun from under his pristine lab coat. A piece of tape labeled this The OTHER Freeze Ray. It shot liquid nitrogen at the glass doors, so it merely took a tap of Dr. Horrible's gloved finger for the glass to shatter and pool around his boots. He calmly stepped through the opening and leveled his Death Ray at the man behind the counter.

"I'm taking all of your money," he announced, and then threw an empty sack over the cash register.

The man complied without saying a word, and soon Dr. Horrible had his cash. He stalked towards the Slurpee machine, glaring at its red contents.

"Fruit punch!" he accused, shouting loudly enough to make the evening's news broadcast. While shouting, he inadvertently sprayed that corner of the store with The OTHER Freeze Ray. Uncaring, he continued his rant. "I hate fruit punch! If this 7-Eleven doesn't start carrying other flavors of Slurpees by next week…" He broke off there, unsure of what threat to make. Instead, he drew his arm back and punched the machine, intending to knock it to the floor. Since it had been frozen, however, his fist went right through and his arm up to the elbow and all of his stomach were coated in red ice.

Trying to save face, he slung the bag of cash over his shoulder and marched out to the unmarked van he'd recently acquired from the bank. He paused to smirk for the cameras; then drove off at top speed.

* * *

The van stopped in front of Billy's apartment building and Dr. Horrible raced out, not bothering to disguise himself. "So cold, so cold, so cold," he whimpered, sprinting up the front steps. Reaching his apartment, he went straight to the bathroom, stepping under the shower while fully clothed.

As the waters brought some relief from the utter cold of the Slurpees, Dr. Horrible's suit was stripped off and tossed into the sink to be dealt with later.

Once dried, changed, and fed, Billy went back to retrieve the suit. "Ugh, stains," he complained to no one. At the thought of returning to the laundromat where he had spent so much time with Penny, he his heart clenched. _I'll just have to invent a new way to remove stains,_ he decided.

He spent several hours in the lab, after which the world would continue to use soap and water to wash their clothes. As a last-ditch effort, Billy left the lab coat to soak in bleach for a few hours. His right glove had to be thrown away, so while a new set was shipping in, he had a backup pair of black gloves and boots that Moist had given him a few Christmases ago, promising they were more B.A. than his head-to-toe white. The bleach didn't work, and the lab coat was now a mild shade of pink that was darker on the stomach and right sleeve, looking slightly tie-dyed.

"Great, my first ELE meeting, and I'm stuck with a pink and black suit! Where's the '50's diner to match?"

Giving up on his grumblings, Billy went out to an arts and fabrics store and purchased some red dye. _At least I can make it look intentional,_ he decided. _But why what reason will I give for the new look?_

* * *

The morning of the big meeting, Moist walked in the apartment to check on his friend. He stopped in front of the red lab coat hanging in the middle of the lab. "What's with the change, Doc?" he inquired. Dr. Horrible gave him a pained look, so he quickly kept going. "Don't get me wrong, it looks great. It just doesn't quite seem like you, I mean how many times have you told me about the irony of a villain wearing all white?"

Dr. Horrible smiled at the memory. "It was time for a change, and since I have now killed someone, the red represents her blood." _Actually, it symbolizes my broken heart rather well,_ he realized, _the red stays._


End file.
